Avatar, The Legend Of Aang Part One
by Emmynemmy
Summary: This is a story following the lives of a water tribe girl after finding the avatar, and a banished prince in search of his honour.


Book One, Volume One – Water

The Boy In The Ice Berg

"A long time ago the four nations used to live together in harmony." I watched contently as my Grandmother spoke, her voice was solemn, and her face was grave. I was watching over the new children of the tribe, they were nearing their fifth year, and the elder thought that it was time that they know the story. A story of why we are so fearful of the Fire Nation, why the men from the tribe are gone, why the water benders from the entire south pole are gone... And why my mother is gone. "Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could keep balance, a world of peace between Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation and Air Nomads. But then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked." She said, looking to the ground, her voice shaking. "Only the Avatar could have stopped the ruthless Fire Nation, but when the world needed him most... He vanished." She whispered the last words, gaining the effect of all the captivated children moving closer to the old woman. "One hundred years have passed, and the avatar has still not arrived, we waited for him as the Fire Nation continued to spread their domination. Listen carefully now young one, as the Fire Nation is now nearing victory in the war, our strongest men offered their services to the Earth King, to help fight in the war. It has been two years since the men of the tribe have left and although we hope for them to come home soon, the war may be a long time from being over." She said, with the last word drawing a breath from the children on the icy ground. I looked away from the children, across the great expanse of the ice, the morning sun blinding me with the reflected white from the polar snow. I could remember how terrified I was when I first heard that story, and the men of the tribe were still here to protect us! Now if the Fire Lord came, we would have no chance. The only warrior in the tribe is my brother Sokka, and let's just say he isn't quite ready to fight of a Fire Nation army... just yet. Of course, I could help, I'm a water bender, not a very good one but I can fight for my tribe.

"Some people say that the Avatar was never re-born into the Air Nomads, but I haven't given up hope." I told the children, they needed something to raise their spirits. "I still believe that somehow, the avatar will return to save the world, right Gran Gran?" I asked.

"Oh yes Katara, he is still out there." She said, with a smile to the children, although I knew she didn't believe, I wasn't just saying it for the benefit of the children.

I gave the children one last smile, before saying, "It's time for our chores, I'm going to gather food with Sokka, make sure you all get your jobs done." I said, as I noticed my brother struggling to drag a kanoo to the still waters. "And behave!" I yelled over my shoulder, running toward Sokka.

"Gee, thanks for all the help sis." He said, rather sarcastically as with one last heave the kanoo fell into the water. I looked at him, an unamused expression on my face.

"Sokka, you know how important that story is for the children of the tribe, it's not something to be rushed along. Besides, aren't you supposed to be the biggest, strongest warrior of the tribe?" I asked, with a good poke to the chest.

"I, yes, well... Let's just get going ok?" He asked, nimbly sliding into the tip of the kanoo. I rolled my eyes and followed suite, my jump was made a little harder by Sokka reaching over the boat to pick up his spear from the ice sheet.

He pulled the oar from the clips on the side of the boat, as I looked over the water, from my seat at the back of the kanoo. He dipped the oar into the still dark water and pushed the boat forward, effortlessly slicing the water. I enjoyed our time spent fishing it meant that I would have time to practice my water bending. Sokka have never understood, nor liked my bending, so to be courteous of his feelings, I tried to hide it. I hung over the boat, and started to sway my arms, back and forth, watching the small waves which were now forming, lapping at the boat, this made me grin wider than I ever had. I enjoyed water bending so much, but there is only so much I could do, with only myself as a teacher. I tried to concentrate on the waves, and began to laugh as they became bigger, so big that I could actually feel an increase in the speed. "What are you laughing at?" Sokka asked, looking back at me. We had travelled quiet a distance now, the village was only seen by a plume of smoke rising in the distance.

"Nothing." I said quickly, watching as the small waves, so small they couldn't even break, just fell back into the still water.

"Hmm." Sokka said, narrowing his eyes in a suspicious way, then turning back to the front. "This should be far enough." He stated, clipping down the oar and pulling out his spear. He poised it over the water, looking for any fish that were brave enough to come to the surface of the water, ready to strike. I, on the other hand, looked out over the water trying to spy any fish that I could trap using water bending. I felt Sokka move with a wobble of the ship.

"It's not getting away from me this time." He said, his spear shifting to follow the fish he spotted in the water. "Watch and learn Katara, this is how you catch a fish." He said, I could hear the smug smirk in his face without having to look. I rolled my eyes, then was distracted by something moving in the water. Another fish! I quickly took of my glove, and spread my fingers in a way that I had learnt made controlling the water easier, and began to push and pull the water, around the fish. I took a deep breath and began to lift the water from the ocean, with the fish still swimming inside!

"Sokka look!" I said happily, lifting the ball of water higher, the fish circling about inside.

"Shhh Katara." Sokka said, not moving his gaze from his own fish, "Your gonna scare it away." He whispered. "Mmm, I can already smell it cookin." He said, more to himself then me with a lick of his lips.

"But Sokka, I caught one!" I said, as I tried to move the water to the fishes quickly lunges to freedom, I bit my lip as I tried to concentrate. It swam above the two higher, until it was over Sokka, I watched as in a split second of realisation he lifted his spear, piercing the water bubble, causing the fish to drop back harmlessly into the water, and for Sokka to be covered with the water that I lost control with. "Hey!" I shouted, watching the fish now swim away into the murky depths.

Sokka turned to me with a frown, and with a clanged jaw shouted, "Why is it, that every time you play with magic water, I get soaked?" He asked, clenching his fist, making the water soaked into his mittens from to the bottom of the kanoo.

I sighed at the statement, "It's not magic water, it's water bending. And it's-" I stated, but Sokka cut in.

"Yea yeah, an ancient art, unique to our culture, blah blah blah. Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I would keep my weirdness to myself." He said, with a shrug as he pulled the water out of his battle ponytail.

I scoffed, "You're calling me weird?" I asked, with crossed arms, "I'm not the one that makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water." I said with a laugh, as I watched Sokka do just that in the calm waters reflection. He turned to look at me in an unamused way, but the contact was broken as the kanoo jerked, and we were sent speeding down a rip. I clutched tightly to the kanoo, as we sped to what looked like open waters. Sokka determinately grabbed the oar and began paddling between the small ice bergs, small, yet big enough to crush the boat easily in two. He paddled us forward, while I watched, unable to think of anything up the upcoming ice burgs, but still hearing the crunching noise of them crashing together behind us. Sokka paddled on, grunting with the effort of the task, but still seemed to be too slow. I watched as two ice bergs in front of us clashed together, "Watch out!" I yelled, looking for possible routes, "Go left, go left!" I shouted, still clutching to the sides of the kanoo. He shifted us to the left pass, but we still hit each ice berg as we went, throwing the small boat around relentlessly. I could see the woven wood starting to split. We squeezed between a gap that was far too narrow, and the large ice chucks came together, Sokka and I jumped from the boat and onto the largest of the bergs, sliding along the flat surface. I slid down the ice stopping just at the edge of the water. I laid there for a moment or two before propping myself up to take in my surroundings. We were in the middle of a large collection of icy islands, with no kanoo and no way back home. I frowned, as I pushed myself back up to the middle of the ice berg, where Sokka was sitting. "You call that left?" I asked angrily.

He looked away from me with the harsh words, into the opposite side of the great expanse of ocean. "You don't like my steering?" He asked, "Then maybe you should have water bended us out of the ice." He said, making silly gesture which I guessed were supposed to be water bending.

"So it's my fault?" I asked, standing.

"I know I should have left you home." Sokka replied, but speaking more to himself. "Leave it to a girl to screw things up." He said arrogantly. I frowned. Standing over him I fought for words, I needed to tell him what I thought while we were trapped on the ice island together.

I pointed down to his small frame, reeling from anger so much that the ice berg started to rock. "You are the most sexist, immature nutbrained..." I shouted, wailing my arms about in my anger. Throwing them above my head I continued to shout, "I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" I shouted, finally getting him to look my way. "Ever since mum died-" I continued, now with a captivated audience. "I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been of playing soldier!" I continued to shout, my anger a boiling heat in my stomach as I began to let all the things I was angry about surface.

"Uhh. Katara." Sokka said, a look of fear on his face as he pointed in my direction. I ignored his plea, continuing.

"I even wash all the clothes!" I yelled, my arms flailing backward yet again, "Have you ever smelled your dirty socks?" I asked, pointing down at him again. "Let me tell you!" I began again "NOT PLEASENT!" I shouted, with one last throwing of my arms.

"Katara..." Sokka said, now looking to be terrified. "Settle down!"

"NO!" I shouted, feeling the anger welling again, "That's it, I'm done helping you!" I decided. "From now on, you're on your OWN!" I shouted. As I looked down at the reaction, I heard a large cracking noise, and turned with a gasp when I saw a huge ice berg cracking in two. Sokka and I clutched to the small icy island we were on, as falling ice from the larger berg fell into the ocean, making waved, that pushed up back. The water pushed us back some distance, I could feel Sokka holding me to the ice berg as I slipped slightly. When the wind and bitter water stopped whipping at our faces, and the waved settled, Sokka looked to me.

"Ok, you've gone from weird to freakish Katara." He said, the words were harsh, but I didn't know if they were sincere or not. With a frown, I realised what he was saying.

"You mean, I did that?" I asked, too amazed at my work to be angry with his tone.

"Yep, congratulations." He said, very sarcastically. With those words, we both noticed a light blue glow, coming from the depths of the water. We both looked down, we both noticed a large oval, which grew larger and larger, soon larger than a fish, a blubber seal, a kanoo then bigger than the small island. I jumped back to my feet, was the shape started emerging from the water, Sokka following my lead. We saw a large blue rounded shape emerge from the water.. I gasped as it covered us with its light glow. Again, our island was pushed back, but this time by an iceberg that must have fallen very deeply, pushing it's way to the surface. The force of the waves were not as strong this time, and the settled quickly. We watched the glowing ice berg for a moment, before it settled in the water. I took a few tentative steps closer, trying to get a better view, watching for what seemed to be the longest time, I made a startling discovery. There was what looked to be a boy in the ice berg, but before I could voice this, the boy began to glow. Sokka and I both gasped taking our afore places at the opposite edge of the island. "He's alive!" I shouted, "We have to help!" I said, pulling the boomerang from Sokka's sheath on his back and running toward the ice berg.

"Katara, get back here!" Sokka shouted, running after me, as I jumped from ice island to ice island, picking up his spear as he went. "You don't know what that thing is!" I ignored Sokka, and sped along the small chunks of ice, hearing that Sokka was close behind. Reaching the large berg before Sokka, I pulled the boomerang back, and far as I could, and swung it hard into the ice...only leaving a tiny chip. Again I swung, and again the ice stubbornly stayed bat a few small shavings falling to the ground. Again and again and again I swung, only leaving the smallest of marks. With a huge effort, I swung again feeling the boomerang fall into the ice, but before I could pull the weapon from the ice, Sokka and I were pushed back by strong just of wind. From the edge of the ice, we watched as a large crack appeared yet again in the ice berg, a thick white smoke seeping through it, until the tip of the ice shattered. From the newly formed hole in the roof of the berg, we saw a strange blinding blue light shoot into the sky, one that could be seen for miles.

-*-

I paced the ship convulsively again and again. I was running out of ideas, and this would be my last hope, the southern water tribes. I looked to my Uncle, playing with his ridiculous pai sho set, but never mind that. I looked around the ship and the surroundings nothing but cold harsh ice. It wasn't a comfortable setting, for any of us... But when you're a banished prince, you seem to be able to put up with such things. I turned to the bow of the ship, across the small channel that would be guiding us to the tribes. I looked to the sky, the sun, the only thing that was keeping my going... hating the feeling at night when the moon shone, and the ice froze us... but... Suddenly a bright blue light shot into the sky. I watched it for a moment or two, from the ground all the way into the heavens, I had never seen anything like it. Only somebody with immense power would be able to do such a thing.

"Finally." I said, my eyes determined on the place where the light, which was now fading, shot from. I turned to and said hurriedly, "Uncle, do you realise what this means?"

"I won't get to finish my game?" He asked, looking at me from the small table he was playing at, tiles and tea on top. I frowned down at him.

"It means my search," I said, turning away from him and toward the source of the light, "It's about to come to an end." I heard my uncle sigh behind me, but carry on with his game non the less, "That light came from an incredibly powerful source!" I said, each word becoming louder and louder as I tried to explain my reasoning. "It has to be him."

"Or it's just a celestial light." Uncle said, waving his hand to the sky, pai sho tile with it. "We've been down this road before Prince Zuko," He said, reminding me of my disgrace and failure. "I don't want you to get too excited over nothing..." He said, whilst deliberating where his next tile should be placed. "Please sit." He offered with a smile, "Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming jasmine tea?" He asked, I frowned, and turning on him, with all of my welled anger.

"I don't need any calming tea!" I shouted back at the man, "I need to capture the Avatar!" I yelled, reeling, "Helmsmen, head a course for the light!" I said, pointing to the bow of the ship.

-*-

Sokka and I watched as the smoke faded, I was terrified as we stood, un able to see what was happening to the ice berg, what was happening to the boy. We stood, Sokka putting one arm around me, the other thrusting forth the spear, as we waited for the smoke to clear.

We gasped when from the lip of the ice berg, a boy began to climb out. He was glowing, the same colour as the light that had shot into the sky, coming closer. "Stop!" Sokka shouted, holding his spear up, in the direction of the boy. But he continued to climb, now standing on the lip of the ice, Sokka let his spear fall. The light cleared away as fast as it had come. We could see the boy now, he was only young and as the light fell so did the boy. We watched as his legs shook and his body swayed. I gasped, and pushed past my brothers protective arms, and toward the child, hoping to catch him in time. I felt his weight, and tried to make the softest lading that I could for him, laying him on the ice. I heard him murmur as I supported his head, trying to have a clearer look at him. I looked over him, until Sokka started to poke the boys bald head with the end of his spear, I narrowed my eyes, and looked up at him, un impressed. "Stop it!" I shouted, pushing his spear away, and turning my attention back to the boy. It was strange that a child would shave his head, and even stranger that he would have tattoos on the smooth surface. He was wearing clothes that I had never seen or heard of before, but my observations were but short, as I heard the boy murmur again, his eyebrows quivering. Slowly he opened his eyes, and I saw grey looking back into mine, a small smile adorned my face. Suddenly the boy spoke.

"I need to ask you something." He said, his voice small and weak. I leant into the small frame.

"What?" I asked, a look of concern now on my face.

"Please, come closer." He said, his voice seeming to fade with each word, I obliged.

"What is it?" I whispered, trying to smile at the boy, and, with a passive face he said,

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" My eyes opened with surprise, one eye brow rising in a questioning way.

"Uhh, sure." I said, hoping that it was what they mysterious boy wanted to hear. "I- I guess." Suddenly, the boy was off the ground, in the most graceful and fastest way that I had ever seen.

Sokka jumped back in surprise, half lifting his spear to the boy again. "What's going on here?" The bald child asked, looking about with a scratch of his head.

"You tell us!" Sokka demanded angrily, "How did you get in the ice?" He asked, crouching as he lifted his spear, "And why aren't you frozen?" He added, with two taps of his spear into the boys obviously un frozen stomach. The boy ignored the prods and dismissed the spear with two pushes.

"I'm not sure." He said, continuing to look about, until it seemed that he remembered something very important. Suddenly the child was scrambling up the ice berg from which he fell, scaling it fast. Sokka and I took a longer route around the ice, and walked to a strange scene. The boy was at the mouth of what look to be a giant bison, lifting the top lip of the beast away from the bottom, I yet again cocked my eyebrow at the strange action, whilst Sokka's jaw fell almost to the ground. We watched as the creature opened its gigantic mouth, and caught the boy on his tongue and preformed the largest lick that I had ever seen. The boy laughed at the giant tongue lifted him into the air, and he turned on the creature once he landed lightly on the ground. "You're okay!" He said, hugging the animal, but his arms only reaching to either end of his nose. The beast grunted slightly at the boys affection, and shook its massive body I could see long white hair falling from it.

"What is that thing?" Sokka asked with a frown,

"This is Appa, my flying bison." The boy answered, as if it where the most normal thing in the world, to have a large flying beast.

"Right." Sokka said, in a very sarcastic way, "And this is Katara, my flying sister." He offered, as I frowned at my introduction. The boy looked at us, the same look of disbelief on his face as was on ours. We were distracted when the bison began to reel back, his lips shaking. The boy quickly ducked down, obviously knowing what was going to happen, I stood behind Sokka, shielding my face, ready for that the beast was going to do. All I heard was a mighty sneeze, and looked up to see a green slime shoot from it nose and unfortunately cover Sokka. He started screaming his disgusted, trying to wipe the smile away from him, on four different areas at once. He rolled about in the snow, rubbing his face along it, trying to get rid of the snot.

"Don't worry," The boy said happily, "It'll wash out." He said, as Sokka pulled a large string of slime from his face. I covered my mouth at the site, hoping not to be sick. "So," The boy said, "Do you guys live around here?" He asked, eyes still on Sokka.

"Don't answer that." Sokka said, speaking to me, but no moving his eyes from the boy, he was yet again holing a spear to him, wearing a stubborn frown. "Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy." He answered.

"Oh yea..." I said, sarcastically while pulling my brother away from the boy, "I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy, you can tell by that evil look in his eye." I said, as we both looked down to him. He posed for us, and innocent face, a large smile. "The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka." I said to the boy, "You never told us your name." I pointed out.

"I', ahhh-ahhh." He started, in what looked to be a sneeze, I looked at the boy concerned, Sokka just looked worried. "Uhh-ahh-ahhhhh" The boy sounded, his nose twitched and his mouth wide agape. He drew in a huge breath and sneezed a terribly loud sneeze, but before we could re-act we were being forced back by a huge gust of wind. Shielding ourselves against the icy blow, we covered our faces, and as the wind died down we looked up, seeing the boy floating back down to earth. "I'm Aang," He continued, as if nothing had happened, yet scratched his nose with a sniff.

Sokka and I both looked at the boy, dumbstruck, until he said, "You just sneezed, and flew ten feet in the air.

"Really?" Aang asked, "It felt higher than that." He added with a shrug. I gasped in realisation.

"You're an Air Bender." I said, disbelievingly, Sokka just looked un impressed.

"Sure am." The boy said simply, as if yet again it was a simple natural normal thing.

"Giant light beams, flying bison, Air Benders... I think I got midnight sun madness," Sokka started sarcastically, whilst walking away, "I'm going home, to where stuff makes sense." He said in a more serious tone, but stopped. He looked out over the great expanse of still ocean, that didn't have a kanoo waiting for us.

"Well if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift. " Aang said from beside me, he crouched down to the ground, and swinging his arms about was pushed onto the Bison's head by a gust of wind he created, and jumped lightly to a set of rains that I hadn't noticed before.

"We'd love a ride, thanks!" I said happily, walking toward the beast.

"Oh no," Sokka started, heading over to us, "I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster" He said, but I cut him off.

"Are you hoping that some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home?" I asked, whilst Aang helped to pull me into the saddle. Sokka looked at me from the ground, "You know, before you freeze to death." I added. He drew breath and posed as if her was going to argue with me, but froze up, obviously not being able to think of anything. He sighed and before I knew it, was sitting beside be in the Bison's saddle.

"Ok, first time flyers hold on tight." Aang said, happily perched atop the Bison's head, Sokka wore a sullen look, while my face lit up with excitement. "Appa yip yip."The boy said. The beast gave a mighty growl, and I could feel his giant beaver like tail lifting behind us. I clutched tightly to the saddle. The beast jumped high into the air, as its tail swung back into the ground, and at the moment we were flying, I almost screamed... that was until we started to fall back to the ground. Appa landed in the water with a mighty splash. With a frown, I crawled forward across the saddle, and looked down at the boy, while the creature contently swam. "Come on Appa, yip yip." I heard Aang say again.

"Wow." Sokka said, his arms folded and his face passive. "That was truly amazing." He said, in a very sarcastic tone. I frowned back at him, then turned my attention back to the boy.

"Appa's just tired." He explained, "A little rest and we will be soaring through the sky. You'll see." He promised, I smiled at Aang, glad for some positive light for once. I continued to watch the boy, who looked at me with a massive grin on his face.

"Uhh, why are you smiling at me like that?" I asked, my face falling only slightly.

"Oh, I was smiling?" He boy asked, making sure to wipe it from his face. Sokka just groaned from his pace at the back of the saddle.

-*-

I had taken a place at the helm of the ship, looking over the monotonous drone of blue ice, my eyes keen for any sign of movement. It was late, and I had changed from my regular uniform, and was wearing a light robe, the chill was evident. I was so intent on my search I didn't even hear my Uncles arrival behind me. "I'm going to bed now." He said, I didn't turn to look at him, just continued to gaze over the ocean. He yawned loudly, "Yep, a man needs his rest." It was an obvious hint at what he wanted me to do. I chose to ignore him, so he took a less subtle path. "Prince Zuko, you need some sleep." He said. I ignored this advice aswell. "Even if you're right." He started, "And the Avatar is alive, you won't find him. You're father, grandfather and great grand father all tried and failed." I looked down slightly at his words, before responding determinatly.

"Because their honour didn't hinge on the Avatars capture." I replied simply. "Mine does." I reminded him. "This cowards years spent in hiding are over." I said determinately.

-*-

I didn't realise that we had been pushed so far from the tribe, until we were actually on our way home. We had been rising the Bison for the longest time, and with boredom provoking me, and crawled again to the tip of the saddle, and looked down at the boy. "Hey." I said simply.

"Hey." He replied. He was laying on his back, looking toward the setting sun in the sky, his hands propped behind his head, making him look calm, comfortable and relaxed. "Whatcha thinking about?" He asked.

"I guess I was wondering," I started, "You being an Air bender and all, if you had any idea what happened to the avatar." I said, looking down at him hoping for good news. He looked up at me with wide eyes.

"Uhh, no." He said, now sitting up, "I didn't know him, I mean I know people who knew him, but I didn't." He said hurriedly, smiling yet again at me, "Sorry." He said.

"Ok." I said, "Just curious." I said, my gaze falling, along with my face. "Good night." I said, moving toward the back of the saddle.

"Sleep tight." I heard the boy call, from the Bisons head. As I fell asleep, my thoughts were full of that of the avatar, Aang, and how on earth he could have been captured in the ice.

We arrived in the village late, and decided it best not to wake everybody to tell them about the boy in the ice berg, but showed him a tent where he could sleep for the night. So, in the morning, the first thing I did was head toward the boy's new shelter, whilst of course stopping and spreading the word enough that the whole village would be gathered to meet him. When I stepped into his tent, he appeared to be awake but on closer inspection he was just having a vivid dream. I knelt beside him, as his arms swung up as if he was controlling the bison, and he was mumbling, Appa. "Aang, Aang, wake up." I said, pushing him lightly, "We're in the village now." I said, as his large grey eyes locking in with mine, "Come on." I said standing, "Come on, get ready, every ones waiting to meet you." I said, watching as he smiled and pulled the blankets from himself. As I watched him slip into his clothes, I noticed that the blue tattoo from his head actually covered his whole body, from his feet to his hands. Pushing this fact aside, I grabbed his wrist and hurriedly dragged him into the view of the excited villagers.

"Aang," I said, This is the entire village." I offered, where nineteen people had gathered. "Entire Village, Aang." I said happily. He bowed to them, and the women pulled the children back slightly.

"Uhh, why are they all looking at me like that?" Aang asked, in an undertone. I put my hands on my hips, as Sokka stood from by Aangs tent. "Did Appa sneeze on me?" He asked, looking over himself as my grandmother approached.

"Well, no one has seen an Air bender in a hundred years." She said, "We thought they were extinct, until my granddaughter and grandson found you." She said, he eyes locked with Aang's.

"Extinct?" Aang asked, with wide eyes.

"Aang, this is my Grandmother." I said with a smile. She looked at him gravely.

"Call me Gran Gran." She said, with a serious face.

"What is this?" Sokka asked, taking a wooden staff that Aang was holding, one that I realised Aang brought with him everywhere. "You can't stab anything with this." He said, holding it up as if to better examine it. Aang looked at my brother in an unimpressed way.

"It's not for stabbing." Aang said, taking the staff from Sokka without even moving his hand, rather making a sucking wind that carried the staff right into his open palm. "It's for air bending." He explained. Aang gave the staff a slight shake, which made orange extensions pop out from the staff, from some unknown place, Sokka reeled back in suprise. The children in the village began to clap and laugh at the display, the wings seeming to pop out from no where just like magic.

"Do it again," I head one girl say.

"It's not magic... Air Bending." Aang said, it sounded like something I would say. "It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly." He said, pulling the glider along with a huge smile on his face, but then of course Sokka had something to say about all of it.

"You know last time I checked..." He stated, "Humans can't fly!" He shouted, his sarcasm seemed to be like a rising sun... always there.

"Check again." Aang said, pulling the glider onto his back, and determined frown on his face. He held onto two of the strips of wood that seemed to make up the frame of the large orange wings on the staff. Suddenly we were pushed back from the force of Aang lifting himself into the air, and the village watched on as he preformed what looked like aerial acrobatics, the children laughing, smiling... I could hear them say things like 'look his flying' and 'wow'. I had never seen the children enjoying themselves so much. I smiled up at him, thankful for his presence, as he smiled down at me. I continued to watch him, as he did the same to me, keeping eye contact which was broken when he ran straight into a tower of snow. I gasped brining my hands to my mouth in shock, as his head disappeared into the ice. From atop the mound of ice, we could see him pulling his head from the ice, and with a large heave freed himself, but also pulling a large pile of snow down with him. I ran over to help him, while Sokka stayed pinned to his spot.

"Uhh. My watch tower." He said, crestfallen.

"That was amazing!" I exclaimed, offering my hand to his, to pull him from the ice. Sokka ran to his watch tower, or what was left of it, trying to hold it up but getting covered in ice himself. Aang stood and smiled at the village.

"Great." Sokka said, popping his head up from under the snow, "You're an Air bender, Katara's a Water bender, together you two can just waste time all day long." He said, in a huff picking himself up from the ice and stalking away.

"You're a water bender!" Aang exclaimed, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Well... sort of." I said hesitantly, I barely knew how to move that water, and even then I could never do anything half as well as he just did, "Not yet." I said, to embarrassed to have the attention on me.

"Alright!" I heard my Grandmother say, "No more playing, come on Katara, you have chores." She said, pulling me away from Aang. She was right, there was a time and a place for my bending and when there was chores to be done, it meant it would have to wait.

"I told you, he's the real thing Gran Gran." I said, as we walked away from the crowd, excited by the new addition if only for a short while to the village. "I finally found a bender to teach me!" I said happily.

"Katara." The elder said solemnly, "Try not to put all your hopes into that boy." She said, but I cut in.

"But he's special." I reasoned, "I can tell. I sinse he is filled with much wisdom." I said, looking over to him, but my face fell at the scene. He was holding his staff, pressing his tongue to it, the taking his hands away said to the small amount of children that had gathered around him, "See, now my tongue is suck to my staff." I watched, biting my lip at the scene as one of the younger children pulled at the staff which was indeed stuck to his tongue. "Err..." I said, turning back to Gran Gran.

-*-

The ship was moving along at a good pace, and the promise of perhaps finding that avatar was looming ever closer. The news put me in good spirits. I had decided that it was time for some training, knowing that I would probably need it upon reaching the avatar. He had been given a hundred years to practice and perfect his techniques. I had called two of the crew to help me train, whilst Uncle sat to the side, he had always been my master, my teacher. "Again." He said, frowning at me, knowing that I could have done better. I took a deep breath, whilst looking down at my opponents. I threw out my hands, as twin bursts of fire erupted, but missed both of the men by a long shot. I crouched down to the ground, as one of the men shot a higher flame, obviously intended for my face. I looked over to the other guard, as he sent a flame my way with a low kick of his foot. I jumped from other ground, and as I did so spun shooting another burst of fire to the first soldier who blocked it easily. I kicked my feet out, in mid jump, sending a flame to the second man, but he dodged it also, far too easily. I landed lightly on my feet, and raised my fists to the men, holding them like weapons. We stood for a moment, my opponents and I, until Uncle lifted himself from the seat and spoke. "No." He said, I dropped my stance and looked to him. "Power in fire bending comes from the breath." He said angrily, bringing his hands to his chest "Not the muscle." He said, jutting his hand toward me, in a simple fire bending stance. "The breath becomes energy in the body." He said, centring himself and taking a breath. "Then the energy extends past the limbs and becomes fire!" He said, sending a fire all but a few inches from my face, I didn't move or even flinch. I knew how good he was at bending, and how well he could control his fire. "Get it right this time." He snapped. I frowned at him.

"Enough." I said, stalking toward him. "I've been drilling this sequence all day. Teach me the next set." I demanded. "I'm more than ready." I assured him.

"No." Uncle replied, like the stubborn fool he was, "You are impatient. You have yet to master your basics. Drill it again!" He shouted to me, but anger seized my body. Taking the misplaced energy, I thrust a kick to one of the un suspecting guards, who tried to block the fire, but was thrown back by the force. I walked over to the older man, who was now sitting again. "The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last Air bender, he must be over a hundred years old by now." I said angrily, looking down at the man, who seemed to be looking back at me with the same emotion. "He's had a century to master the four elements, I'll need more than basic fire bending to defeat him. You will teach me the advanced set!" I demanded.

"Very well." Iero said, in a low and dangerous voice. Then the old mans face turned, and he held a slight smile. "But first." He said, reaching beside him, for a small bowl, "I must finish my roast duck." I watched in shock as he continued to eat.

-*-

The late sun was setting in the sky, and having just finished my chores, I wanted to spend atleast a little while with Aang. After searching the village, I wielding no results, and decided to ask Sokka upon spotting him with the boys from the village. "Have you seen Aang?" I asked him as the children left. "Gran Gran said he disappeared an hour ago." I stated, but once I finished my question, Aang tumbled from one of Sokka's contraptions. The boys of the village approached him, as Sokka turned on me.

"Katara," He started, the tone of his voice already telling me that this was going to be one of his rants. "Get him out of here." He demanded, pointing to Aang . This lesson is for warriors only." He stated and stalked away. So that was what he was doing with all the boys. I turned to argue with him, but was distract by the sound of laughing, looking over I saw that Aang had made a slide from Appa's tale, and the chlidren were flipping from the long tale into a soft mound of snow. I began to laugh at the site of children having so much fun, but stopped when Sokka pushed past me and ran to them.

"Stop!" He shouted, "Stop it right now!" He called stalking over to them. "Whats wrong with you?" He turned on Aang, who was sitting atop Appa, 'We don't have time for fun and games with a war going on." He said angrily.

"What war?" Aang asked, sliding lightly of off Appa. "What are you talking about?" He asked.

Sokka's face fell. "You're kidding right?" He asked. Sokka and I both looked at Aang, hoping that he was just making a rather unfunny joke. As we watched his face seemed to turn into a look of pain, I took a step closer to him as it looked like he was holding back a great deal, his face tense... Then he opened his mouth and screamed.

"Penguin!" Pointing to a lonesome creature. I noticed us all looking at it, and with a small quack turned its back and began to run down the hill. Aang suddenly took off from beside us, leaving noting but icy dust in his wake. Sokka and I were left in silence as we watched him run an impossible distance, impossibly fast. "He is kidding... Right?" Sokka asked.

I decided that I needed to talk to Aang, and of course it took me about five times the time to reach the hill that he had disappeared down. I knew that this was where the penguins came of an evening, and as I walked through the large clusters of knee high creatures, I tried to spot the boy. "Aang!" I called out, causing some of the penguins around me to waddle away. I heard a giggle from somewhere and I saw where most of the movement of the black and white animals was. Moving over toward them I noticed Aang laughing following penguins about, trying to catch them. ", come one guys, wanna go sledding?" He asked them. He reached out to grab it, but fell as the penguin waddled from his grasp. "I have a way with animals." Aang said, as with one delicate twist he lifted himself of the ground and faced me, it was obvious that the statement was a blatant lie. I shot Aang a smile. Aang raised his arms and began to waddle like the penguins completing the action with realistic quacks. I began to giggle at his performance

"Aang, I'll help you catch a penguin, if you teach me water bending." I promised, knowing just the trick to catching the animals.

"You got a deal." Aang said happily. "Just one little problem." He said, "Not a water bender. Isn't there someone in your tribe who can teach you?" He asked.

I tunred away from him, my smile falling slightly. "No." I said quietly. "You're looking at the only water bender in the whole south pole." I said, looking to the ground. I heard Aang gasp.

"This isn't right." He said quickly, "A water bender needs to master water. What about the north pole?" He asked. "There's another water tribe up there right?" he asked, "Maybe they have water benders that could teach you." He said... as if it was that easy.

"Maybe." I offered, "But we haven't had contact with our sister tribe in a long time." I said, "It's not exactly turn right at the second glacier, it's on the other side of the world!"

"You forget." Aang said, "I have a flying Bison, Appa and I can personally fly you to the north pole. Katara, were going to find you a master."

"Thats..." I started, unable to find the words. "I mean...I don't know, I've never left home before." I said.

"Well..." Aang said, as a penguin walked between us, "You think about it and in the mean time..."  
He began, his usual smile gracing his face. "Can you teach me to catch one of these penguins?" I smiled at him.

"Ok." I said, "Listen carefully my young pupil..." I said, pulling a small fish I had thought to bring earlier from my pocket, "Catching penguins is a sacred and ancient art." I bluffed with a smile, "Observe." I offered. I flipped the small fish in my hand, shooting Aang a smile before passing him the fish. He caught the fish, and looked about himself as penguins began to migrate around him. With a huge grin on his face he laughed as the penguins crowded him for the fish.

I couldn't remember the last time that I had so much fun. Penguin sliding with Aang seemed to lift my worries, and I didn't realise just how far we had sledded until coming from the last hill I saw something that I had long since forgotten about. A rugged and twisted metal ship seemed to claw its way from the snow, it seemed to ride on a wave of ice. From atop the flagpole we could see a torn fire nation flag waving in the cold wind. We approached the shape, falling into the cold shadows cast by the cold iron.

"Woah," Aang sounded, "What is that?" He asked.

"A Fire Navy ship." I spat, looking at the shape in disgust. "And a very bad memory for my people." We looked at it a moment longer, but I was startled when Aang started to make his way over to it. "Aang stop!" I said, "We're not allowed to go near it, it could be booby trapped!" I said, but Aang continued to walk toward it.

"If you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear." Aang replied, now almost touching the ship. I took a moment to consider his words. He was right, what type of a bender would i be if I was afraid of an old abandoned ship? I slowly, and attentively followed Aang. He smiled at me in an encouraging way, and we stood at the bottom of the ship. We climbed the large ice chucks that had captured the ship, he helped pull me over the last large ice chuck, and we crawled our way inside the ship from a small hole that had torn into the metal. We wandered the empty halls and searched the solitary rooms, the only sound was the echo of your foot steps as we paced the walls.

"This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran Gran was a little girl." I said, looking about the room which looked to be an old weaponry. "It was part of the fire nations first attack."

"Ok, back up." Aang said, picking up an old spear. "I had friends all over the world, even in the fire nation." He said, "I've never seen any war." He said, I frowned at the words.

"Aang." I said, "How long were you in that ice berg?" I asked, suddenly realising that he wasn't exactly a twelve year old kid.

"I dunno." He said, looking to the ground. "A few days maybe?" He offered.

"I think it was more like... a hundred years." I said, with wide eyes... it was how everything could make sense.

"What?" Aang asked, turning to me quickly, "That's impossible. Do I look like a hundred and twelve year old man to you?" He asked, with a cocked eyebrow.

"Think about it Aang." I reasoned, "The war is a century old, you don't know about it, because... somehow you were in it the whole time." I said, watching Aang's face fall. "It's the only explanation." I said.

Aang slowly fell back, and sat onto the floor. "A hundred years..." He said slowly, looking to the ground. "I can't believe it." He said, as I moved in to crouch beside him.

"I'm sorry Aang," I said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Maybe somehow there is a bright side to all this." I offered.

"I did get to meet you." Aang said, with a large smile. I smiled back at him.

"Come on." I said, happier with the new positive light in him, "Let's get out of here." I said, offering him my hand. I pulled Aang from the ground and we walked together from the room. "Let's head back... this place is creepy." I said, but Aang soon took the lead, leaving me to follow. But before I could say anything else, I heard a crashing noise, and turned to see a large steel grate crashing to the floor, blocking the exit.

"What was that you said about booby traps?" Aang asked, as we both gasped the metal grid locking us in the room. I watched terrified as pipes began to shake, meters began to wobble and wheels began to turn inside the ship. Suddenly, everything stopped, and from a window, we saw a flair shoot into the sky, as high as the blue light yesterday morning. "Uhh oh." I heard Aang murmur from beside me. Turning determinately, Aang spotted yet another hole in the old ship. Picking me up, he yelled, "Hold on tight," and using his air bending shot us up to freedom. I screamed and clutched onto him in terror as we fell back to the ground, but still only landing very lightly.

-*-

The sun was sinking lower into the sky, and I was starting to become more and more frustrated. I was hoping that we would have found the source of the blue light by now, before the sun had disappeared for the night. I sighed as my anger began to well, this was getting ridiculous, the icy expanses of this land seemed to continue for the longest time. I was distracted from my thoughts by one of the crew men, pointing something in the sky to another. Quickly I turned and saw what looked to be a fire navy flair. I frowned at the thought, what would a ship be sending a flair signal for? Quickly I ran to get my spy glass, and raising it to my eye, just as the flair was falling back to the ground. I spied the ship, it looked to be at least eighty years old, probably from the first fleets... judging by the wall of ice it had become trapped on, it was from a time where the south pole still had water benders. Something more interesting though, caught my eye, from the captains rooms, I noticed a small figure, dressed in orange... the colour of the air nomads uniforms, my eyes shot open. He was carrying something whilst jumping from the ship... he must have set of the flair... "That last Air bender." I said, " Quiet agile for his old age." I turned to the first crewman I could see. "Wake my Uncle!" I yelled to him, "Tell him, I've found the Avatar." I took back to looking to the spying glass, and saw where the Avatar was running... A small village, by the waters edge. "As well as his hiding place." I said.

-*-


End file.
